Narrative Structure and Discourse Constellations: An Analysis of Clause Function in Biblical Hebrew Prose.

• Author: Kaye, Alan S.
• Position: Book Review

Narrative Structure and Discourse Constellations: An Analysis of Clause Function in Biblical Hebrew Prose. By ROY L. HELLER. Harvard Semitic Studies, vol. 55. Winona Lake, Ind.: EISENBRAUNS, 2004. Pp. xi + 494. $49.

This work, based on a Yale University doctoral dissertation, is the latest addition to the prestigious Harvard Semitic Studies series edited by Jo Ann Hackett and John Huehnergard. It consists of four well-organized chapters, the most important of which are the first and last. Chapter 1 presents the problem under investigation: the old, much-disputed tense vs. aspect controversy in Biblical Hebrew prose, while chapter 4 summarizes the conclusions of his discourse analysis approach.

Chapter 1, "The Structure of Biblical Narrative and the Functions of Biblical Discourse: An Introduction to the Problem" (pp. 1-32), is a thorough review of the literature of the functions of various clause types in Biblical Hebrew prose and the nature of the Biblical Hebrew verb. The author distinguishes Biblical from Classical Hebrew. These designations are often used interchangeably; however for Heller, the former refers to the Masoretic text of the Bible as found in Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, ed. K. Elliger and W. Rudolph (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1984), whereas the latter refers to the language variety spoken during the first millennium B.C., as preserved in the Masoretic text and other epigraphic sources, such as the Dead Sea Scrolls.

I agree with the author that the tense analysis stems from the medieval grammarians, such as David Qimhi, who were "probably under the influence of their native Arabic" (p. 3). In this careful review of the literature on the Biblical Hebrew verbal system, the author convincingly shows that the tense-oriented theorists have generally disappeared since approximately 1850 (pp. 4-5), although some authorities in recent times still refer to the Biblical Hebrew tense system (see, e.g., Joshua Blau, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew [Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1976], 46).

The comparative-historical approaches promulgated by scholars such as Hans Bauer and Gotthelf Bergstrasser (1886-1933) helped to refine the aspect theory. However, it owes its beginnings to Heinrich Ewald (1803-1875), whose views are discussed along with that of other leading proponents: Samuel R. Driver, Diethelm Michel, Frithiof Rundgren, Bo Isaksson, and Mats Eskhult. The author's conclusion is as follows: "... the aspectual...